Accounting & Business Finance

Discover the latest in accounting and business finance, including software reviews, tips, news and how-to advice. You’ll find popular reviews of financial software products such as Quickbooks, Quicken, Turbo Tax, Microsoft Money and more. Interested in financing options for a variety of business needs? You’ll discover FAQs on financial terms, and tips on the latest financial trends. Follow finance news? Discover accounting articles on a variety of business topics affecting your livelihood. Join the accounting community at Bright Hub and let us know what you’d like to see here! We look forward to building this channel with you!

Blockchain is taking the world by storm, though the talk mostly focuses on a small subsection of its use cases. More than bitcoin and healthcare records, blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt less expected arenas like food supply chains.

The IRS has announced that due to the government shutdown, the beginning of tax season will be delayed by as much as two weeks. This will affect both tax payers expecting an early tax return as well as tax preparers who will have a shorter window to work.

Bankruptcy would seem to solve many problems for Detroit, but it leaves many of its citizens in the lurch. Most hard hit would be retirees expecting to receive pensions from the city who would only receive 16 cents on the dollar. Learn more about what bankruptcy means for Detroit.

The government has proposed a cap of 401k accounts of $3 million. They state that this tax money could help them better run their government programs and this is more than enough for someone to live off of in retirement. However, this cap could have many negative outcomes.

The Jumpstart Our Businesses Act sounds great in theory. However, many accountants are concerned about the looser regulations in the bill. This may result in less scrutiny of financial practices, which could cost investors.

The Obama Administration recently delayed the enforcement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act until Jan 2015. Many employers are still struggling to understand the implications of this complex health insurance reform law. What will it mean for your business?

Beginning in January, employers are going to have to start taking out more in taxes from their employee’s paychecks. The new Medicare payroll tax goes into effect at the beginning of the year as part of President Obama’s sweeping healthcare changes. What does this mean for businesses and employees?

People go into business because they have an interest in producing a specific product or service. The last thing they want to do is wade their way through all kinds of financial ratios. The liquidity analysis is an important ratio for an owner to know about, and this guide will take you through it.

As this year ends, why not make a New Year’s business resolution and focus a marked effort to organize your company’s financials? If you plan all year long, when tax time comes, the meeting with your tax professional will be much easier and less stressful.

How much does it cost to make the product or service you sell? Do you know how to determine overhead, labor and raw materials costs? What about analyzing the financial statements where these numbers appear? To aid you, we’ve gathered a list of articles on the ins and outs of COGS and COGM!

There are set rules on when to increase COLA and based on the Consumer Price Index latest review (2008 to 2011), the 2012 COLA raise should mean good news for those receiving social security benefits. Before you jump for joy, learn why this 3.6 percent raise is not as great as it sounds.

Inventory is essential to every business and if you don’t understand the various types of inventory methods to determine inventory values and controls your business will fail fast! Here, we challenge you to test your inventory methods IQ!

For business payroll or accounting departments, it’s important to ensure you know all the rules when it comes to payroll, deductions and when overtime pay is due. Take our quick 13 question quiz and test your knowledge.

Accounting can be quite complex but those who love it know the accounting cycle is really a science because all those debits and credits make your books balance. Do you think you know all the ins and outs of accounting journals? If so, take this quick 15 question quiz and test yourself.

Ask any CPA or tax professional and they will tell you the trial balance is the most important financial tool of all when it comes to financial statements. Every debit and credit you post eventually lands in the trial balance and here, Bright Hub offers this informative one-stop guide!

Whether you’re starting your own small business or if you’re already managing a successful enterprise, there are ways to streamline your forecasting processes. At the end of this catalog you’ll even find advice for forecasting and analyzing your own personal finances.

Recent days have brought two protests on why you should change your bank. The first was on Saturday, November 5, and the second one came on Election Day for many—Tuesday, November 8, 2011. Who were behind these protests, what’s the message and did it work? Jean Scheid takes a look.

How much do you know about using loss leaders in line with managerial accounting concerns? Loss incurrence when using this strategy is inevitable; hence, business owners and financial managers should determine if the loss is still recoverable and that the strategy being used is legal.